<p>My son received an unsolicited letter from Yale congratulating him on his academic performance and standardized testing scores and encouraging him to apply.
Obviously a form letter but was wondering do they send it to all juniors or just those that meet their minimum standards.
He scored a 218 on the PSAT and a 2290 on the SAT(one time sitting) he does not plan to retake.
He is very active and involved in lots of EC's.
Rank fluctuates between 1&2 in a class of 300.
I guess my ? Is could he actually get into an IVY league or is it just more junk mail.
I don't want to encourage him to apply to some and be upset by a bunch of rejections!
Please let me know what you think,</p>
<p>I think he is just like all the other kids that scored as he did and above. He has a chance. I recently read that 70% of the applicants to Ivy league schools have the qualifications. They must select from there. If avoiding rejection is more important than obtaining a possible slot, then don’t apply. But if he really desires to go and it’s financially feasible, you will never get what you don’t try for. My D got a 223 and a 2350 (one sitting), a 36 ACT and rank of 1 or 2 out of 375. She has a pretty impressive resume (not bragging; I read these boards and know that many do). Ivy admittance seems like the lottery to us but yes, she COULD get into an Ivy just don’t know if she WILL. Same for your son.</p>
<p>Clearly his SAT scores are outstanding. Here is what colleges want; people with a skill. Now, some people with a skill don’t have good scores. But what those people do have is the ability to help that college to gain notoriety and money in the future. Unfortunately, not all skillful students (sports, instrument, talent) have the best gpa and SAT scores. In order for ivy league schools to accept these students, they need others with high test scores to balance the skillful ones out and remain prestigious. Therefore “lots of extra credits” don’t do normal students much good. Despite your sons great SATs scores, that letter was probably sent to a wide range of students. It appears that the difference between your son and other students might be his attitude and personality, not just scores. He should choose 2 or 3 to apply to and then also pick some safer schools. Ivy league doesnt always translate as better. Tell him, as it is dumb to wonder what could have happened. The pain of initial failure is always lesser than the pain of regret. </p>
<p>We got the same letter. I think it’s PSAT generated. For what it’s worth, I have two juniors, but received only one letter. There was a score difference between the two. The kid who got the letter is a likely NMSF. The other was not even close.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! It is so much better asking these ?'s on CC anonymously!</p>
<p>CB provides contact list (with your consent during registration) to schools. Some schools purchase regional list, some purchase list for certain test scores. My D have also received letters like that from various schools last year. Once your child becomes NMSF or NMF, you will receive another batch of mails. They are just targeted advertisement.</p>
<p>My D received a letter from Yale, Pamona, Williams and Lee, and OU National Merit Scholars program yesterday. I was surprised that they commented on her PSAT score; I thought those numbers were private. Regardless, the only letter I cared about was the one from OU because it equalled FREE to me.</p>
<p>I have seen Yale send out multiple letters based on ACT, SAT, AP scores, PSAT scores etc.</p>
<p>They are targeting academic kids who they become aware of based on some cut offs they use in each area when they purchase information. It means the kid might qualify but so do most of their solicited applicant pool which runs into 10s of thousands. When Harvard announced their applicant numbers recently, the Dean made a comment about holding the numbers for marketing.</p>
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<p><a href=“34,295 Apply to Class of 2018, Marking Slight Decrease from Previous Year | News | The Harvard Crimson”>http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/2/3/class-2018-drop-slightly/</a></p>
<p>We got the Yale letter (and Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown) but my DD had a 194 PSAT!
I am convinced that they send them so you think you have a shot and apply, but they just want more applicants so their % of admits is lower.</p>
<p>Got those letters for S1 from every Ivy except Princeton (one of two he would have even considered). There is definitely a threshold for various schools, but as someone mentioned earlier…Ivies are almost a lottery. Just being an awesome student is not enough and they don’t just take the best qualified. They want to build a class that meets their diversity goals for that year. Ivies also do not do merit aid, so they effectively exclude much of the middle class due to cost.</p>
<p>“but my DD had a 194 PSAT!”</p>
<p>Until they release NMSFs, all the schools get are names based on cut offs they have requested in specific areas. The way MITChris explained it was that they set a threshold which could be as low as a 60 in one section. So if your DD had some sections with a high number, that is usually sufficient since they don’t always know the totals.</p>
<p>My S got letters from all Ivies except Harvard based on his ACT scores. It is nice to know the score is in the range, but still doesn’t mean much for acceptance.</p>
<p>Colleges aren’t told PSAT scores, but they are told which students scored above certain thresholds. </p>
<p>So, if you get a “congrats” letter about your PSAT score, then they’re really just congratulating that you scored above a certain reported threshold. </p>
<p>There are different lists. For instance one list may include all that scored a 200+ on the PSAT.</p>
<p>My D’s stats are very, very similar, including the HS class size! She is a freshman at Yale. We were not sure at first either, but she really liked what she saw once she investigated more. She applied SCEA, was deferred and then accepted RD. It does happen, but we will never know for sure why. She got a personal comment about what they liked in her essay. I know she had very strong recs.</p>
<p>I know a person who ended up Commended rather than NMSF who got tons of this mail and really let it sway their college choices. She got letters, book, t-shirts and special invites to regional presentations from Ivys, U of Chicago, etc. She applied to a couple of state schools (the kind almost anyone can get into) and then a number of major reach schools. She ended up very unhappy at the state college. Take it all with a grain of salt!</p>
<p>Remember, this is just a marketing tactic. The schools don’t know your exact score. They may just obtain the mailing list of certain number of top score students from certain area from different test agents. Don’t even think it suggest a ballpark figure for the required score. After all, having near perfect score is not sufficient for top schools anyway. Nevertheless, some schools may offer free application to their selected mailing list recipient. For instance, if you have high test scores and are from oos, UMN may send you the golden gopher application invitation that waived the application fee and essay requirement. When it is free (in the sense of money and trouble), one may want to take the advantage of it.</p>